Healthy Eating Choices Launched at Jellinbah Village

The effects of the FIFO lifestyle on workers has been an ongoing concern with recent studies revealing that on average one-third of Australian workers suffer from a chronic disease, most of which had at least one modifiable risk factor such as smoking, poor diet, stress, low physical activity or high alcohol consumption.

In most cases, FIFO workers receive 100% of their dietary intake from contract catering companies while working at site. This means that Cater Care provide the single source of food for many residents working at our client’s remote mine sites.

As the primary food provider at our remote sites, Cater Care understands the need to provide healthy and nutritious food for residents. To achieve this, we have developed the RISE Healthy Eating program which focuses on providing residents with healthy meal options, and also educating and promoting healthy meals to encourage and support a healthy lifestyle.

On November 29, 2017, Cater Care celebrated the successful launch of its RISE Healthy Eating program at Jellinbah Village in Bluff QLD. After months of extensive planning, the RISE Healthy Eating team traveled to site for the launch. Before the launch, site staff had been trained on the program and were eager to implement it at site.

‘Our job is to help the workers make the right choice and eat healthy. We have a wide range of people at site – from young and healthy to those that might not always make the right choices. This program is about helping them make better choices, like portion control.’ – Mjro Fulgidezza, Relief Manager

“The program’s not about the food necessarily but more about educating individuals on what’s available on how they can make the right choices, the healthy choices.” – Mike Ryan, Operations Manager

A teaser campaign was put in place before the launch to create hype around the program and inviting remote workers to meet our dietitian, Jenna Wheatley, for Healthy Eating advice or questions. The pre-launch paid off with a number of residents eager to find more about the program and how they can make healthy changes to their lifestyle.To assist residents we have marked all the point of sale material for our healthy choice options with the green tick.

Approaching the bain marie, residents were pleasantly surprised to find that the healthy choice wasn’t all greens, but a delicious tender lamb and spinach sagwalla. It was a popular choice with over 41% out of the 250 residents opting for the tender lamb and spinach sagwalla.

“This is good, (the healthy choices ), we haven’t had anything like this before.”

“Dinner was “beaut”, no complaints!”

“I’ve been to a few sites and this is definitely one of the better ones . What’s the healthy dish on the menu for tomorrow?”

The launch was a success, with new insights into how we can continue to improve the program at Jellinbah Village and in the roll out of our next sites two sites Edna May and Jacinth Ambrosia in January year!